HTC has kicked off pre-orders this morning for their previously announced HTC Vive Pro Head Mounted Display, setting the price on the standalone HMD at $799. Furthermore, any Vive Pro HMDs purchased by June 3rd, which will begin shipping on April 5th, includes a free six-month trial to Viveport Subscription where owners will get the chance to play 30 titles with their new HMD. Meanwhile, the company has also announced a $100 price drop for the current Vive full kit. This price reduction brings it down to $499 globally.

The HTC Vive Pro VR HMD is aimed towards consumers and professionals who love want to be on the bleeding edge of VR hardware. While not a full generational update over its predecessor, the Vive Pro comes equipped with dual 3.5-inch OLED displays with a combined resolution of 2880x1600 at 90 Hz refresh rate. This increase in resolution over the current Vive (78% more pixels) significantly increases the resulting image clarity. However, it's worth noting that the FOV remains at 110° - the same as the Vive (non-Pro). Additionally, the Vive Pro features integrated headphones with a built-in amplifier as well as dual microphones which HTC says creates a ‘heightened sense of presence and sound through noise cancellation capabilities’.

The Vive Pro was also redesigned for increased comfort using a head-strap which balances the weight of the headset more evenly and features simple adjustment buttons for users who wear glasses. The Pro works with both SteamVR tracking 1.0 and 2.0 so existing Vive customers are able to upgrade the headset only while continuing to use current generation controllers and base stations. In essence, users are receiving a unit with increased resolution, integrated audio, and a redesigned headset strap for comfort.

We are hoping to hear more about the Vive wireless adapter using Intel’s WiGig technology to get rid of the cords. However it would seem that HTC isn't revealing anything about its availability at this time.

I was waiting for gen 2 before jumping on VR. but this price for just the headset is insane. the new base stations, controllers, and wireless adapter are not available, and when they are they will be very expensive also.I'm estimating $1500 to get started with all the new gen 2 equipment (not including gaming computer)The first vive was $800 at launch including controllers and base stations, which was reasonable. I guess HTC doesn't want to replace the old system, they want to keep selling it, and they don't want the new system to replace it, but just be a premium option. They're probably scared vive 1 owners would put their systems on the second-hand market if the new gen was comparable in price.Reply

Would you go dual gpu if you were getting into VR? does the vive benefit from this I vaguely remember reading a while ago that each screen was going to make use of a discrete gpu to ensure that the frame rate would be as consistent as possible (depending on what software you are running in the VR environment...) Also has anyone tried Skyrim or Fallout 4 VR? Im not able to afford a VR experience yet so am curios if anyone has tried either game on a high end machine and whether the experience was improved/better/worse than the 2D experience?